China stocks inch up after three days of losses

Shanghai: China stocks steadied in thin activity on Tuesday, after three days of losses, as investors sought beaten-down property developers and resource firms.
The market was largely stable, with investors expecting limited price action in stocks as Beijing will not tolerate violent moves ahead of the key Communist Party Congress next month.
The blue-chip CSI300 index rose 0.1 per cent, to 3,820.78 points, while the Shanghai Composite Index added 0.1 per cent to 3,343.58 points.
China's securities watchdog said late on Monday that maintaining market stability is of "extreme importance", and is a political task.
Sector performance was mixed for the day. Banking and healthcare companies dragged.
Property and material shares, the biggest victims of the recent sell-off, rebounded, both gaining one per cent.
Property shares had been hit by fresh steps in some cities to cool housing prices, while resource shares were sold on worries that a government crackdown on air pollution could curb manufacturing and mining activity and factory demand.
Profits at China's state-owned firms rose 21.7 per cent in the first eight months of 2017 from the same period a year earlier, the Ministry of Finance said. While still robust, the pace of growth softened slightly from January-July.